REUTERS - Shares of Apple Inc (AAPL.O) are set to open down 3 percent on Wednesday as the company's plan to return $100 billion in capital failed to appease shareholders shaken by the iPhone maker's first quarterly drop in profit in a decade.

A soft outlook from Apple for the current quarter prompted at least 17 brokerages to slash their price targets on the iPhone maker's shares by up to $180 per share.

Apple could be resetting investor expectations with its soft June quarter outlook, JP Morgan's Mark Moskowitz said. He slashed his target price on the shares to $545 from $725, reflecting the much lower revenue outlook.

Canaccord Genuity said it sees much weaker overall iPhone sales and a higher proportion of sales of lower-priced Phone 4 models.

It cut its target price on Apple shares to $560 from $600 and warned of significant market share loss at the higher end of the smartphone market ahead of the release of a new model, the iPhone 5S, in autumn.

BMO Capital Markets cut its rating on Apple's stock to "market perform" from "outperform," voicing concern that the company would have to trade off revenue growth for margins in the longer term.

Apple's gross margin was 37.5 percent in the second quarter, lagging market expectations for a 38.5 percent margin.

Seven analysts have "neutral" or equivalent ratings on Apple's stock and three have "sell" ratings. The rest of the 56 analysts covering Apple have "buy" ratings on its stock, according to StarMine data.

Apple's growth has slowed as smartphones reach saturation in the developed world and it goes head-to-head with increasingly aggressive rivals in developing countries such as China and India, where customers prefer cheaper models.

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